William ashbee tbitton



'W. A. TRITTON.

ARMOR PLATING.

APPLICATION HLED um 24. 1911.

1,312,371 Patnted Aug. 5, 1919.

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WILLIAM ASHBEE TRITTON, 0F LINCOLN, ENGLAITD.

ARM ORJE'LATING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 5, 1915).

Application filed July 24, 1917. Serial No. 182,564.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Sir WILLIAM Aeneas 'lm'i'rox, a subject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, of Wellington Foundry, Firth Road. Lincoln, in the county of Lincoln. England, consulting engineer, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in and Relating to Armor-Plating, of which the following is a specification.-

This invention relates to armor plating of the kind in which the area to be protected, and for the purpose of saving weight, is enveloped or incased by series of plates spaced apart and stifl'ened if desired by cross members, thus forming separate walls.

It is usual to arrange these walls parallel with one another, and under these conditions if, for example, a projectile strikes the outer wall in a direction normal to its plane and enetrates it, the second wall being pnral el with the first is quite liable to be also pierced.

The object of the present invention is a relative arrangement of the walls so that should the outer wall be pierced by a projectile. the latter instead of also passing through the inner wall or walls will become deflected in its course and rendered compnl'ntivclv harmless.

The invention consists in an improved armor plating of the kind comprising walls or skins spaced apart. wherein the said walls are arranged out of parallelism with one another, or an intervening non-parallel wall is arranged between two parallel walls.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which by way of example, the invention will he described in connection with a frame for Supporting an endless moving chain track.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the track frame.

Fig. 2 is a transverse section through one of the panels thereof.

Figs. 3 and 4 are transverse sections showing modifications in the arrangement of the armor plating.

In carrying the invention into effect it will be described with reference to Figs. 1 and 2 as applied to a frame for supporting an endless moving track. The track frame, as usual, constitutes a girder the top and bottom sides of which are channeled in transverse section as shown in Fig. 2 and spaces are left to receive subsequently the panels;- To the girder on its in'ner side there" is applied continuous plating a prescntin a vertical plane surface while in each of tie several spaces is mounted the outer armor ing mem er I; which also constitutes a plane surface but which leans toward or slopes away from the inner member a, and constituting a series of anels f. From Fig. 1 it will be seen that tlie track frame comprises a girder construction with shafts c and d at each end upon which sprocket wheels are mounted and these sprocket wheels actuate the endless chain which is indicated diagrammatically at e in Fig. 2. Such sprockets and endless chain do not form part of the present invention and will therefore not be further described. From the foregoing it will be understood that in order to protect the vehicle frame a series of anels are formed in the length of the gir er as s own in Fig. 1, and each panel comprises the special system of armoring described. It is preferred to make openings at intervals in the top channeling for a purpose that will be hereafter explained. By the arrangement of armor plating shown in Fig. 2, should a projectile strike the outer wall I) of any of the panels in a direction indicated by the arrow ,1 which is normal to its plane and pierce it, the second wall a, being out of parallelism with the first will receive the impact of the projectile in such a way that its force is resolved into two components, the projectile thus being deflected and failing to pierce the second wall a. The arrow shows a direction which is normal to the verti al back plate a and this will obviously be deflected in the manner shown so that it fails to pierce the outer plate I).

If the walls are of considerable area it will be convenient to so form one or both of them that they present a series of planes of zigza appearance, the characteristic of nonparal elism of adjacent parts of the walls being preserved; such an arrangement is illustrated in Fig. 3 in which the members 7) slope in relatively opposite directions, the meeting edge presenting an apex. A similarseries of planes 6 may be arranged along side one another in series, but relatively staggered as indicated at h.

In a. modification which is illustrated in Fig. 4, there are arranged inner and outer walls It Z, which are relatively parallel, there being arranged an intermediate member or wall in which is parallel to neither of the walls I: and Z, such intermediate all m act ing as a deflecting medium. Such a construction also possesses the advantage of increasing stiffness.

Referring to Fig. 3, the same parallel walls In and l are shown, but it will be obvious that if desired, the outer wall Z may be omitted.

The above described system of armor plating is found, an'iong many other uses to which it is applicable, to be ofvservice in protecting the working parts of motor tractors that are propelled by a moving endless chain track or tracks. For instance, in the case, as is represented in Fig. 1, where a. light, hollow girder is used to support the track, and the space between the upper and lower frames is armoredby an inner wall or casing! represented at a and an outer oblique wall represented at b which slopes downwardly and outwardly and which may or may not he intercepted by transverse stiffening members. Theouter oblique wall may also serve to discharge mud that may be carried up on the upper run of the chain track from which the mud will drop and fall through suitable openings, notshown, and slide down the sloping plate I) and away from the track frame. Arrows '11, indicate the manner in which the mud is thus freed from the chain tracks.

working; parts of the vehicle or other structure it is to protect, and in the case of an armored vehicle the working parts and pro gelling machinery would be positioned bc liind its vertical wall.

Having now described my invention what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A track frame for endless moving chain tracks comprising an inner member andan outer member which is out of parallelism With the first member, the said second member comprising a. series of panels arranged lengthwise of the frame.

2, Improvednrmor track frame for endless .moying chain tracks which comprises a longitudinal girder the upper and lower edgesof which constitute devices which support the upperand the lower stretch of the endless track band, a series of panel open ingslengthwise of the frame, a back wall to the said openings which is vertical and presents a plane surface, an outer wall within the said openings to constitute panels. said outer members being of plane surface and sloping downwardly and outwardly from the back plate and thereby constituting mud discharge plates which drop from the up per run of the track band.

V In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

WILLIAM ASHBEE TRITTON.

Copies of this pat ent may be obtained for live cent! each, by addressing the "Qommissluner o1 Patents, Washington, D. (1." 

